The Apocalypse of Adolescence Ron Powers writes a chilling piece about everyday teenagers and how they suddenly lash out on society and do unimaginable things to random people, or even worse to the people that they love. The title of the piece is, The Apocalypse of Adolescence . Webster's definition of apocalypse is, "an unveiling of hidden things; revelation; disclosure." As Powers explains the gruesome things that these "average" teenagers do, it almost frightens me and forces others to never assume someone is perfectly OK and normal. As a matter of fact, Powers makes a point to prove that most of the time these criminals are intertwined quite nicely into the social ladders at home and at school, and are hard to distinguish as being murders. As he travels to a small town in Vermont he explains how criminals of all degrees are springing out of these once "safe" communities.

English: Supreme Court of Vermont, Montpelier, Ver...

English: Vermont Pop Map

The Old Constitution House at Windsor, where the C...

Middle-class kids are joining gangs because their mentors (parents) are not there to support or care for them.

A feeling of alienation takes over, and they have to find attention from other sources.

When one doesn't find a gang to join, television and video games are next on the list for time passers. Powers denotes that the entertainment these kids partake in are filled with violence and mature content that should not be viewed by such feeble minds, yet hours and hours of this graphic material is viewed by the bulk. I have often found this scenario to be true, after baby-sitting an 8 year old, named Max numerous times. He watches rated R movies and plays graphic games, his parents both work and are either at work or sleeping. According to this article, Max is a prime candidate for committing a horrific crime. Although most sane people can tell the difference between something happening on a movie and what happens in real life, unfortunately most of these "ordinary" teenagers obviously cannot grasp the same idea, these kids don't have any compassion towards others and this shows by the example that Powers provides. The two boys who randomly pick two well-liked college professors to kill, number one leave an incredible amount of evidence behind, almost as if they want to be caught, and two they don't seem to care about the consequences that these acts will have, and all because the youth these days are not taught these morals at home. So all in all what are the components of the corrupted youth these days, why are these desensitized minds hiding behind a mask of good? The combination is parents who just aren't there, entertainment that is corrupting the youth from within, and the virtues, morals and compassion that are never taught at home.

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